And bloatware usually refers to 3rd party apps installed by the hw vendor

No. That’s “crapware” or “abandonware” or “McAfee”.

“Bloatware” was a reference to programs that became unnecessarily complex while not providing a commensurate level of increased functionality. Office applications are the best example of bloatware. Windows itself has many examples of bloat. Why this term has been incorrectly applied to fixed system apps or preinstalled applications is beyond me. There is nothing bloated about Reminders or Find My Friends. The inability to delete them does not make them bloatware. Their footprint is inconsequential and they can be banished to a folder off the main screen and never seen again. They don’t run uninvited and are not necessary to run other features of the OS. Mayhap it offends the OCD afflicted, but otherwise they are inoffensive.

It could be argued that they are part of the iOS and unwanted and therefore “bloatware”, but since they consume nothing for resources and you are not forced to run them (unlike all the unnecessary modules in an OS or all 50000 tools in Office) the term is not accurate.And I still consider it a corruption of the term to use “bloatware” to identify apps that can be removed in a second from a desktop computer.

This rant brought to you by the letter “K” and the word “Pedantic”.

tylernol

I stand corrected on the bloat/crap distinction and agree with everything else you say. All I want Apple to do is to get rid of the Buffalo Bill serial killer theme in Find My Friends.

I’m pretty sure it’s a losing battle. In an age of standard 8 gigs of RAM and 2 terabyte hard drives I’ve seen plenty of PC oriented sites refer to the extra apps on Windows boxes as “bloatware”, which just makes the application of that term extra wrong.

I guess that makes me the Don Quixote of Jargon.

Jim H

Like what specifically? I don’t see AT&T icons or try this or that apps, nothing that looks like advertising/bloatwear to me. Just wondering what you are referring to??

Ok, technically Apple’s own apps aren’t ‘bloatware’, but many are – at best – modest attempts at competence. Reminders being an example. It’s quite adequate for a few people, but why can’t I delete it? Photo booth anyone?